There is nothing better than seeing a good movie during the summer!  It is the perfect way to escape the heat or start the night before you go out.  Most people go for the big summer blockbusters but often times big budgets to not mean the movie will be good.  This summer you should try something different.  Try having an Indie summer and catch a movie at the IFC Center.

The IFC is the ultimate entertainment space for New Yorkers seeking out the best in independent film.  The IFC center opened in June 2005 in the historic Waverly theater.  It has five state-of-the-art cinemas with High-Def digital and 35mm projection and serves organic popcorn with real, natural butter at the concession stand.

Another fun thing about the IFC Center is that they have themed nights and specialty films that you may not be able to see anywhere else. Along with showing independent, foreign and documentary features, the IFC has Short Attention Span Cinema featuring short films before every feature.  The IFC also has weekend classics Fridays through Sundays at 11 am.  A perfect way to start you weekend. 

The Posteritati Gallery at IFC Center is an exhibition of vintage movie posters from around the globe.  I love a good vintage movie poster!

So if you are looking for something fun and new with film, the IFC Center is the way to go!

For movie and event listings and for more information about the IFC Center click here.

Starting on June 21, 2010 British comedian and two-time Emmy award-winning actor Eddie Izzard will join the new cast of David Mamet’s Race on Broadway.  Joining Izzard will be Golden Globe and SAG award nominee, Dennis Haysbert who will be making his Broadway debut, Afton C. Williamson and original cast member Richard Thomas.  The cast will perform Race for an exclusive nine week limited engagement at the The Ethel Barrymore Theatre. 

The original and current cast for Race includes James Spader, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington and Richard Thomas.  I was fortunate enough to see Race with this cast a while back and I thought that Grier gave a spectacular performance! 

Race has received huge buzz during it’s run for it’s thought provoking and provocative subject matter. For more information about Race click here.

Brooklyn Arts Council will open the summer season of the yearlong initiative, Black Brooklyn Renaissance, with the Black Brooklyn Drum Call, a FREE event on Saturday, June 5, 2010 from 2 to 5:30pm.  The drum call will be a gathering of Brooklyn musicians practicing the art of drumming from many African, Afro-Caribbean, African American and Hispanic diasporic communities including Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The artists will take over Grand Army Plaza, performing and uniting ten distinct styles of drumming, demonstrating the role drums have played in the history of various cultures as well as the complexity of African drumming practiced in the borough.

The drum call will have drumming demos and drum-making workshops followed by a symposium on the history of African drumming in Brooklyn moderated by Neil Clarke who has played with the likes of Harry Belafonte and Miriam Mekeba. 

Typically a means of announcement or a call to action in many African cultures, this Drum Call signifies the commencement of a summer series of Brooklyn festivals celebrating African diaspora, such as the West Indian American Labor Day Carnival. 

This free event is intended to be an interactive community event so they are encouraging the public to bring their drums and have a good time!

For more information on the Brooklyn Arts council, the Black Brooklyn Drum Call or to see the full summer calendar for Black Brooklyn Renaissance, please click here.

What could be more fun than enjoying a movie in the park with hundreds of your closest friends?  Summer is BACK and so is the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival.  After you kick off the summer with Memorial Day in the Hamptons you can look forward to Movies in Bryant Park every Monday night starting June 21st.  Here is the full calendar:

Monday June 21, 2010

-Goldfinger at 5pm on The Lawn

Monday June 28, 2010

-Carousel at 5pm on The Lawn

Monday July 5, 2010

-The French Connection at 5pm on The Lawn

Monday July 12, 2010

-My Man Godfrey at 5pm on The Lawn

Monday July 19, 2010

-The China Syndrome at 5 pm on The Lawn

Monday July 26, 2010

-Monty Python and The Holy Grail at 5pm on The Lawn

Monday August 2, 2010

-Rosemary’s Baby at 5pm o The Lawn

Monday August 9, 2010

-The Goodbye Girl at 5pm on the Lawn

Monday August 16, 2010

-12 Angry Men at 5pm on The Lawn

Monday August 23, 2010

-Bonnie and Clyde

For more information on the films and and the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival click here.

The great thing about New York City is that it offers its people and visitors a ton free and fun things to do.  I recently discovered that Bryant Park has a reading room where people can go and just relax and read a book or magazine for free!  What a lovely way to relax after work or during your lunch break.  What is even better than being able to escape the city in such a pretty place is the history of the Bryant Park reading room.  It dates back to 1935!

The original Reading Room began in August of 1935 as a public response to the Depression Era job losses in New York.  So many people had no place to go during the day so the New York Public Library opened the “Open Air Library” to give out-of-work businessmen and intellectuals a place to go to enjoy reading materials without money or a library card.  Patrons were simply asked to sign in and out.  Eventually the Reading Room was closed in 1944 due to an increase in jobs and World War II.

The Bryant Park Corporation has recreated history by recreating the Bryant Park Reading Room. It is modeled after the original with the additions of custom-designed carts for an extensive and eclectic selection of books, periodicals and newspapers, kid-sized carts and furniture for children to use. There are even reading programs and events at the reading room where authors come to read and talk about their books.  The one I am most excited about is on Wednesday, June 16th from12:30 pm - 1:45 pm when Kelly Cutrone, PR genius and star of Bravo T.V.’s Kell On Earth, will be speaking about her latest book!   

Just like the original reading room, the programming, publications, and environment are available to everyone for free, without any need of cards or identification.

People seem to be obsessed with zombies these days.  There are some that say that the zombies are going to rise up and slowly take over the world.  People have actually written survival guides on how to survive a zombie attack, created social media groups about the zombies coming and even joined gyms that have zombie survival boot camp.  A while back I even did a post about a Zombie Lurch in Austin, Texas.  I think that we can all agree that the best way to survive a Zombie take over is by taking a look back at the history of zombie Attacks via zombie movies of the past!

BAM is celebrating the release of horror maestro George A. Romero’s newest zombie gore-fest, Survival of the Dead, with a mini-retrospective weekend of his creepiest work this Saturday. You could win a pair of tickets and dinner for 2 and a special invitation to the Q/A afterwards with George Romero!

Here are the rules:

Encore will be showing a new Romero clip every day throughout the week and posting a trivia question on our twitter and Facebook sites. By answering as many questions correctly, Encore Insiders can win a pair of tickets and dinner for 2. You must sign up to be an Encore Insider to participate. There’s no cost to signing up or participating in the contest. Sign up to be an Encore insider here.

Here is the link to the first video: http://encoremag.com/media

The first question that you must answer is: The first to die is  ‘Johnny’ or his girlfriend?

Please send all answers for this contest to promo@encoremag.com

Sign up to be an Encore insider and be sure to check Encore’s Twitter and Facebook for the next video and triva question! Good luck! Hopefully the zombies won’t come before the event!

The Tribeca Film Festival officially starts today and will continue until May 2. The festival has rapidly become one of the most popular and regarded film festivals in the world with many careers and films being launched there.

Many people are familiar with the name of this festival but some may not know some interesting facts about why it was started or what goes on.  I took it upon myself to find some facts about The Tribeca film festival that you may or may not know.  Test your knowledge!

* Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2001 following the attacks on the World Trade Center to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan through an annual celebration of film, music and culture.

* Since its founding, it has attracted an international audience of more than 2.3 million attendees and has generated an estimated $600 million in economic activity for New York City.

* Co-founded 1989 by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, the Tribeca Film Center was the first commercial space in Tribeca dedicated to housing film, television, and entertainment companies.

* From April 23 through April 30 the Tribeca Film Festival Virtual will allow live online screenings of 8 feature films and 18 short features, along with red-carpet events and question-and-answer sessions with film personnel; a virtual pass is $45.

* Tribeca Enterprises was established in 2003 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, the company currently operates a network of branded entertainment businesses including the Tribeca Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival International, and Tribeca Cinemas.

* The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival will include screenings of 85 features and 47 short films at various locations in Lower Manhattan. 

* The Tribeca Film Festival is a great place to see the hottest celebs!

* In 2005 Felicity Huffman won the award for Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film at the festival for Transamerica.

* Chiefs, directed by Daniel Junge was the first documentary to win the festivals award for Best Documentary Feature in 2002.

*In 2009, Rosenthal, Hatkoff and De Niro were named number 14 on Barron’s list of the world’s top 25 philanthropists for their role in regenerating Tribeca’s economy after September 11th.

So how much of that info did you already know? Tell us about it! 

For more information on the Tribeca Film Festival click here.

Encore’s March issue featured the indie rock band The Vivian Girls styled in American Appearl, Brooklyn Industries and Hayden-Harnett!  The shoot was done at Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, New York and fun was had by all.

The girls looked amazing in the clothes, especially in Hayden-Harnett.  We are thrilled that HH feels the same!  The Brooklyn-based clothng company was happy that their clothes were on The Vivian Girls and in the mag.  Check out what they said!

Thanks for the shout-out Hayden-Harnett!  You are our new best friend, text us every five minutes!

Fela!, the off–Broadway smash hit that redefined musical theater, has been making huge waves on Broadway!  Encore Magazine wants you to experience the rhythm of this amazing dance show!

Upload a picture of yourself with your friend/lover/dance partner on our Facebook fan page in your best dancing outfit and you could win two tickets to see Fela! on Broadway. 

The contest will run now through April 22nd.  The winners will be chosen by Encore Magazine’s staff and the winning picture will be posted on the offical Encore Magazine Blog! 

We cannot wait to see your pictures! Now get to posing!

Last week the fabulous Dame Edna Everage and the talented Michael Feinstein held a reception for bloggers and online journalists to celebrate and discuss their new Broadway show All About Me.  Starring both Feinstein and Dame Edna, the show has already begun previews and will open on March 18,2010. 

At the reception, Dame Edna made a grand entrance with Feinstein. She was dressed in an extravagant floor length red frock (as the Dame would say), complete with jewels and her trademark violet hair and bedazzled glasses.  “There are a lot of men here,” joked Dame Edna, “I hope I have not stepped into one of those places.”  Keeping the evening light and full of laughter, Dame Edna was eager to know exactly what a blogger was.  The Dame asked, “Do you all sit in a dark room and write cheeky messages to each other?”  Feinstein assured the Dame that we were indeed reporters. 

Dame Edna told press that Feinstein had a great knowledge about songs and composers to which Feinstein replied, “except for the Great Australian Songbook.” Dame Edna then told everyone how the two differ.  “The Great Australian Songbook is wonderful. It differs from The Great American Songbook in one respect: it’s thinner. In fact, it’s almost a pamphlet.”  The Dame said she was excited to feature a song from the Great Australian songbook.  “The song has gone platinum in Australia and it’s called ‘The Dingo Ate My Baby.’, It’s beautiful, it really is.  It may be our next national anthem.”

It was also interesting to find out that many legendary Broadway roles were written for Dame Edna.  “I have an initiative called HOA or Help Other Actresses.  I pass roles that are offered to me to others, needy people.  That’s why Sigourney Weaver is in Avatar,” Dame Edna joked. It is such a joy to be around someone like Barry Humphries who is talented enough to never break character for even a split second. 

“The show is more like a conversation between two people,” said Dame Edna, “one of whom is much more interesting than the other.”  Feinstein then said that it’s like two shows for the price of one, which Dame Edna said should make our “bloggies” happy to hear. 

Dame Edna closed the night by saying, “Be sure darlings, that we will be giving you our all and we will be entertaining you to the best of our abilities, and quite frankly it will be the best show in town!”

 Tickets for All About Me are available through Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200